This invention relates generally to sprinkler heads primarily used in (but not limited to) agricultural applications, and specifically, to a side-load nozzle arrangement for such sprinkler heads.
For most rotary-type sprinkler heads where a stream of water from a fixed nozzle impinges on a rotatable water deflector plate, the nozzle is removable and interchangeable with nozzles of different size, i.e., nozzles with different orifice diameters. Typically, however, the water supply must be shut off and the sprinkler head at least partially disassembled in order to remove and replace the nozzle. It is also oftentimes desirable to simply shut off one or more sprinklers mounted, for example, on a truss span of a linear or center-pivot irrigator, in order to provide a desired sprinkling pattern as determined by factors such as soil condition, topography, type of crop being irrigated, and so on.
While there have been proposed solutions to the disassembly aspect of nozzle interchange using various, fairly complex multi-nozzle turret arrangements for selectively installing nozzles of different size, the lack of simple and reliable nozzle-change and shut-off features in a rotary sprinkler head remains problematic.